An experiment in heat

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After only 8 days the first Carolina Reaper has sprouted! Coincidentally, it was actually the very first seed I sewed, and the one shown in the close up image (sitting in the jiffy pod) in the previous post. Check it out!

Howdy heat lovers, we’re back in a big(ly) way. I got a late start on the season, but I decided to only grow one new variety this year: the Carolina Reaper. That’s right, the hottest stable pepper variety in the world. I also dug out some seeds I bought a couple years ago: the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T. They have been in the shed for a couple years, but stored in ziplocs, so hopefully they are still good. I sewed the seeds on 4/25/2017, and as of this writing (5/1/2017) there are no sprouts, but I will make a post as soon as something pops up.

Below are some shots of the seed starting process. I’m using both the jiffy pod, and paper towel in ziploc method. We will see who wins the race.

And now, the annual state of the farm visual address:

Up first is an old plant, started in 2013 (I think). Notice the big exposed roots, this is turning into a bonsai style plant

Here we have a ripe Scotch Bonnet

These next three are from the same plant, I believe a 7 pot Jonah or Trinidad Doughlah, either way, very hot and a very hardy plant

Below are a couple shots of the Thai Bird Pepper plant, these little peppers grow straight up towards the sky. In the second image, you can see one pepper has “speared” the flower it grew from and is wearing it like a crown.

I have a couple nice Pablanos coming in, although I really need to re-pot this plant into a larger container for it to produce well

This Serrano plant was actually started from a cutting (as opposed to a seed) a friend gave me, it is very bountiful

That’s all for now, but strap in, because we are in for a wild ride with the Carolina Reapers!

Just a little status update. The young plants have graduated from solo cups, to slightly larger plastic pots. The older plants are starting to produce pods, but nothing ripe yet. I have some purple jalapenos, kung paos, and a couple types of super hots producing pods. I can’t quite remember the varieties of super hots, but I’m pretty sure they are naga moriches and maybe trinidad doughlaghs. I’m going to have to look back to some old posts once the peppers ripen to identify them.

Photos below with some commentary. I’ll make another post once things start to ripen!

The 2016 crop in their new larger homes. I “topped” most of them last week, and you will see the new growth sprouting in the pictures below

Above you can see where I cut the main stalk at the top. This allows more light to the lower stem, and causes new growth to branch out. This makes for a bushier plant, that is capable of producing more peppers since it will have more branches

Another plant that was topped. The new growth comes very fast.

This is a Purple Tiger, very pretty leaves. This one is branching out quite nicely as well.

Purple Jalapeno

Purple Jalapeno

Kung Pao, these will turn bright red, they also get pretty long, around 8 inches

Mystery super hot, I’m thinking this is a Naga Morich or Naga Viper

Another mystery, I believe it is a Trinidad Doughlah. Notice the bumpy skin.

Its early March and the weather is great right now! I just want to give a quick update, things move fast at this stage.

I have a few plants that are just about ready to put into solo cups and start hardening off. The most mature are the Brazilian Starfish and Aji Amarillo, but a couple of the Purple Tigers are right behind. I just had the first Caterpillars sprout in the last few days, but still no signs of the Trinidad Scorpions or Chocolate Fataliis. I still think they will sprout, but is has been a while, maybe its time to call in a favor from the pepper gods.

Side bar: I’ll do an update next week on my plants from last year that are still alive, they are pruned back, but just starting to show new growth.

A few of the peppers sprouted as early as 10 days ago, and are starting to grow the first set of “true leaves”. The leaves you see initially are known as cotyledons, and then the sets of true leaves start growing.

I’ve got the peppers under lights already, so hopefully they will get a few sets of true leaves over the next couple weeks, and then maybe i can start putting the bigger ones outside.

Here are some pictures.

This is a Purple Tiger only a couple days old, look how purple that stem is!

And a more recent picture, the first leaves are coming in on this Purple Tiger, and they should be very colorful once they mature.

Here are a pair of Brazilian Starfish, the first to sprout, showing their first true leaves

Sometimes the seed casing won’t come off of the leaves when the plant sprouts, usually because the seed wasn’t sewn deep enough into the soil. You can try and pull it off with tweezers, or just leave it be, as I did. You can see the true leaves coming in on the left hand side. This is an Aji Amarillo plant.

That’s all for this post. Be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram for some intermittent updates! Hopefully we’ll see some Scorpions and Caterpillars soon!

It’s that time of year again! I’ve just planted the seeds for the 2016 grow season, and I’ve got some very interesting ones this year.

The list:

Trinidad Scorpion Butch T

Chocolate Fatalii

Aji Amarillo

Aji Norteno

Brazilian Starfish

Caterpillar

Purple Tiger

The first two I’ve grown before, but I don’t have any survivors from last year, so I’m starting some new ones. The rest are new to me. The focus this year is less on pure heat, and more on interesting shapes and colors. The grow updates should be more interesting even before the pods start, the Purple Tiger in particular is a very pretty plant.

I ordered my new seeds from The Hippy Seed Co (www.thehippyseedcompany.com), which is based in Australia. They have a great reputation online, and they added a very nice personal touch to the order (see below). Highly recommended based on the price, shipping, and customer service. I’m sure the seeds are good quality as well.

I’ve learned a few macro photography tricks lately, so I hope to provide some very up close and personal pictures of the process this year. I hope you enjoy!

The seeds:

A hand written note is a very nice touch!:

Up close with a Scorpion seed:

Lincoln for scale:

All sewed up:

Got the grid plotted out, let’s see who is first to sprout!

That’s it for today, hopefully we’ll see some sprouts in the next week or so. I got the heating pad last year and it really speeds thing up.